The rise of the Internet has increased the use of digital images in which to convey aspects of people. One common use of digital photos is in creating a profile on social networks. More and more commonly, social networks are used to engage in professional, as opposed to personal, communications and research. For example, it is common for certain social network members to create profiles listing their professional accomplishments, in a manner similar to a resume, and to direct, invite, or at least make available to potential employers to visit the social network profile. It is becoming more and more common for the member to place some photos of themselves on such member profiles.
An issue that arises with the use of photos in such a professional capacity is that it can be easy for a member to use a photo on their member profile page that is not of the highest quality, either because the photographic techniques involved in taking the photo were not of the highest quality (e.g., bad lighting, poor framing of the subject, poor shading, etc.), or because the subject matter itself was lacking in some regard (e.g., the angle of the head is unusual, the clothes worn are too casual, the background scene is too casual, etc.). These problems are often caused by the fact that many digital photos are now taken using non-professional camera equipment (e.g., a smartphone) by non-professionals (e.g., the member taking a selfie, or a friend taking a quick shot). While certain technical details of a photograph can be quantified to identify the “image quality,” it is difficult to extend the image quality to the somewhat more nebulous idea of “professionalism” of the image.
Even assuming that the professionalism of an image can be quantified (which would then allow an image to be selected or modified to maximize this professionalism metric), another issue arises in that it may not be apparent which of a number of different potential photos available on an electronic device of the member (e.g., smartphone) are actually of the member him or herself, as opposed to others. While the member could certainly select particular photos that represent him or herself and inform the system of these selections, this calls for effort on the part of the member that the member may not wish to spend. Since members may be somewhat reluctant to share photos of themselves to begin with, it would be beneficial to have a system that scanned the member's device and retrieved candidate photos that depict the member. This is technically challenging, however, because most photos are not identified as being or not being of a particular person.